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Psychedelic love arrives on PS4 in time for Valentine's Day
Let's say you were gazing longingly at your PC and Xbox One owning friends when Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime released on those platforms last year. Despite all the killer couch co-op games at your disposal on PlayStation 4, none could quite fill the niche the gorgeous and altogether psychedelic indie game about eradicating all evil in the universe would. Well, fear not Sony fans: The laser-filled outer space adventure hits PS4 on February 9th. And even if you can't find a co-op date by then, you can always play solo with an in-game space-cat (or dog) picking up the slack.
Smartphone accessory 3D-scans your food to count calories
Visual calorie-counting apps have appeared on smartphones before, but typically involved object identification through the camera (or barcode scanning, which isn't quite the same). Other apps, with more expensive subscription costs, would direct your photos to people hired to work out what you were putting in your mouth.While this route would probably offer the most precise answers, it's also not an instant one, and learning that delicious meat pie you ate for dinner goes over your calorie count for the day is no use once it's already long gone. The NutriRay3D adds some hardware to your existing smartphone, scanning the contents of your plate with lasers for high-precision calorie and nutrient estimates -- it's looking to crowdfunding to make it all happen.
Advanced sensors could use rubberized laser beams
Lasers usually conjure up the image of bulky devices with mirrors inside that shine a coherent beam out one end. However, scientists from Kent University have created a model that's just a flat piece of stretchy LCE (liquid crystal elastomer) film. That material is like a rubberized version of the liquid crystals used in displays and is often used to make artificial muscles. When hit with a simple laser light source, the film produces a new laser beam that changes frequency when force is applied. That alone is cool (to laser people), but the new material may also result in a new class of sensors that can measure forces with extreme accuracy and relay the results over fiber optic cables.
'Spencer' the robot is here to help guide lost airline passengers
Meet Spencer. This armless automaton will begin a test run in Schiphol Amsterdam Airport at the end of the month, greeting and guiding harried travellers through the transport hub's famously confusing terminal system. Navigating it is so challenging, in fact, that KLM airlines donated a large part of the project's funding because so many of its customers were getting lost and missing flights. To ensure that doesn't happen anymore, Spencer is equipped with laser range-finding eyes and detailed maps of the airport's interior.
Scientists use 'spooky action' to mail electron messages a mile
Researchers at Stanford University announced Tuesday that they had successfully leveraged the "spooky" interaction of entangled electrons to send a message between them over a span of 1.2 miles. This is by far the longest distance that scientists have managed to send entangled particles and provides the strongest evidence to date that quantum computing can have practical applications.
Laser-cooked bacon is a delicious techno-culinary masterpiece
There's no wrong way to cook bacon -- even if you don't cook it at all. Kentaro Fukushi, a Mathematical Science professor in Tokyo, Japan recently proved as much to Munchies. He, along with his partner, Hiroshi Takai of The Garage Lab maker space, have combined cutting edge technology with their culture's deeply held tradition of eating raw meat. They're using a laser cutter to fry just the fat on strips of bacon while leaving the rest of the meat uncooked.
The Air Force will have combat lasers on its war planes by 2020
The Army has its HEL-MD (not to mention is working on GI Joe-style rifles and minesweepers); the Navy put a battleship-mounted railgun aboard the USS Ponce; and within the next five years, the Air Force expects to have laser weapons of its very own. These armaments, dubbed directed-energy weapons pods, will be mounted on American warplanes and serve to burn missiles, UAVs -- even other combat aircraft -- clean out of the sky. "I believe we'll have a directed energy pod we can put on a fighter plane very soon," Air Force General Hawk Carlisle said at a Fifth-Generation Warfare lecture during the Air Force Association Air & Space conference earlier this week. "That day is a lot closer than I think a lot of people think it is."
London's Boris bikes kitted out with lasers in the name of safety
If there's one universal truth, it's that everything is better with lasers: sharks, dinosaurs, Facebook, and now... Boris bikes. Under a new safety trial, Transport for London has fitted 250 of the capital's pushbikes-for-hire with a laser-projection system that beams the familiar stickman bicycle logo onto the ground ahead of the cyclist. With a six metre lead on the rider, the projection is intended to alert motorists to the close presence of the cyclist, who could be cruising in the driver's blind spot at the time. In early tests, the laser projection was said to improve the nighttime visibility of bikers when compared with the regular LED headlamps currently in use. The tech itself is being provided by UK upstart Blaze, which already sells the Laserlight as a handlebar add-on for any bicycle. Should the 10-or-so week trial be deemed successful, the plan is to retrofit all 11,500 Boris bikes with the dynamo-driven projection system.
ICYMI: portable laser cannons, robotic tackling dummies, and fungus furniture
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-495312{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-495312, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-495312{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-495312").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It, Boeing unveils a drone-destroying laser cannon the size of a travel trunk. Also up, North Korea shows us all how calisthenics are done, a guy makes an ottoman out of mushrooms, and Dartmouth College unleashed a robotic tackling dummy upon its football team. If you come across any interesting videos, we'd love to see them. Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd. And if you just want to heap praise on your handsome guest host, feel free to hit him up @mr_trout.
Researchers inject oil into cells and create little lasers
The Massachusetts General Hospital research team that lit up human cells with the help of jellyfish genes a few years ago are back with a more advanced version of the technology. This new version forgoes the complicated external mirror setup in favor of injectable oil droplets impregnated with fluorescent dye. This is the same basic idea as what a team from St Andrews University recently created, except that the plastic bead that served as the their laser's resonating chamber is now an oil droplet. While the technology isn't ready for therapeutic applications just yet, it does hold a great deal of promise. The problem with conventional cellular markers and dye is that they have a broad emission spectrum which can make it difficult to spot the marked cells amidst the rest of the tissue. But with these miniature lasers, doctors will be able to mark and track individual cells no matter where they are in the body. The team recently published their findings in Nature Photonics.
Japanese scientists fire the world's most powerful laser
A team of researchers from Osaka University recently fired the most powerful laser on the planet: a 2 petawatt pulse, that's 2 quadrillion watts, albeit for just one trillionth of a second. It's called the LFEX (Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments) and it measures more than 300 feet in length. Interestingly, while the LFEX boasts immense power, it doesn't actually require that much energy to operate.
ICYMI: A thread display, rainbow flamethrower and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-723972{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-723972, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-723972{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-723972").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It: Forever 21 just unveiled (or unwound) a new kind of billboard that uses mechanical spools of thread to rapidly display Instagram photos. A bionic eye was implanted in a patient for new use with an old disease: Age-related macular degeneration. And your next kiddy birthday party will be the perfect place to unveil your mastery of common household ingredients to make a rainbow flamethrower display. Don't say I didn't warn you if you blow up your house, though.
Scientists implant teeny, tiny lasers into human cells
A few years back, a pair of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital made human cells glow by impregnating them with a molecule that's normally found in jellyfish called green fluorescent protein (GFP) and packing them into a resonant cavity that amplified the amount of light each cell produced. Now, according to a new study recently published in the journal Nano Letters, a team of scientists from the University of St Andrews have developed a means of making individual glowing cells also act as their own resonant cavities.
Mark Zuckerberg shows off Facebook's internet lasers
Most of us use Facebook to show off a new car, an engagement or a particularly notable lunch, but Mark Zuckerberg does it a bit differently. In a Q&A session yesterday Zuckerberg referenced his company's plans for using lasers to connect more areas to the internet, and today he posted a few demonstration pictures from the Connectivity Lab. According to the Facebook founder, we won't actually be able to see the beams (that's just for show) but the connections will "dramatically" increase the speed of sending data over long distances, and this is just one of the connectivity projects in development. Last year Facebook mentioned combining this laser tech with drones and satellites to help connect the next billion people with its Internet.org initiative, and it appears that work is still moving along.
Army and Air Force team up for laser-based landmine sweepers
Used to be that if the US military wanted to clear a roadway, runway or airfield of deadly IEDs (improvised explosive devices), they'd have to send in highly-trained and heavily armored explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams a la "The Hurt Locker." Problem is, this method is as ploddingly slow as it is dangerous to the servicemen and women involved. That's is why the Army and Air Force are teaming up to burn those IEDs clean out of the Earth using lasers mounted on MRAP battle trucks.
The Big Picture: Laser art show puts you inside a virtual flood
What do lasers have to do with an 1651 oil painting? Quite a lot, as it turns out: a new project called Water Light celebrates a Dutch museum's acquisition of The Breach of St. Anthony's Dike by making you feel like you're inside the painting. Using the latest LED technology, creator Studio Roosegaarde says the spectacle gives viewers "the experience and perception... of a virtual flood." While that sounds unpleasant, the images from the exhibition are stunning, with the light seeming to curve like water around Amsterdam's Museum Square. If you're lucky enough to be there, you can catch the show tonight after 10 pm, or lose yourself in the video below.
Laser-activated nanoparticles are coming to clear your acne
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have developed a high-tech solution to the bane of adolescence: acne. Acne occurs when the skin's pores become clogged. Conventional remedies generally involve stripping the skin of sebum -- the waxy substance naturally produced by pores that makes your skin waterproof -- with topical washes or regulating its production with medication. However, researchers have published a novel solution in the Journal of Controlled Release, called selective photothermolysis, that relies on neither drugs nor harsh chemicals.
Petcube's WiFi camera lets you play with your pet, remotely
Sometimes your Tuesday is going horribly and the only way to fix it is face time with your four-legged best friend. We've likely all been there. Petcube wants to help make those bad days melt away with its WiFi-enabled pet camera. More than simply offering video and two-way audio communication via smartphone app (both Android and iOS are supported), each camera has a built-in laser pointer that you can control remotely by dragging your finger across your mobile's screen. We saw it in action with cats in San Francisco (pictured above), and it was pretty cute watching felines chase around a red dot controlled by one of Petcube's employees standing next to us at CES in Las Vegas. The outfit says you can grant access to your camera, too, so people besides you can, say, exercise your pets if you're a bit too busy. Naturally, they just need to download the app to their device of choice.
Dutch trains get lasers to zap track debris
You might not see leaves as hazards, but train operators would beg to differ -- foliage on the tracks not only makes it harder for trains to stop, but also messes with anti-collision signals. The greenery might not be much of a danger for much longer, however. Dutch Railways is testing a laser system that zaps leaves (and other organic material) before it reaches the wheels, keeping the tracks clean. You can already use water jets and sand gels to do this, but they have limited supplies and sometimes damage the rails. The lasers run so long as the train has power, and they actually help the metal by drying it and preventing leaves from sticking.
The Big Picture: a laser-beamed satellite image of Berlin
At first glance, the satellite image above may seem like one of the many that have been shared in the past. What you're looking at, though, was delivered in a much more timely manner than the imagery which came before it. For the first time ever, the European Space Agency has used a laser to beam a photograph to Earth -- of Berlin, in this case -- stretching around 36,000 km (or roughly 22,000 miles) across space and delivering it almost in real time. The ESA was able to accomplish this by linking up its Sentinel-1 and Alphasat satellites, both of which are equipped with a laser communications system that makes it possible to deliver data at super high speeds.
